Dynamic High Energy Switch

ABSTRACT

A dynamic high-energy switch used for correcting load imbalance through connecting and disconnecting capacitance in a power feed circuit.

This application claims priority to U.S. Ser. No. ______ entitled“Dynamic High Energy Power Line Capacitor Switching System”, filed onFeb. 11, 2012, naming Hamid Pishdadian of Warwick, R.I. as inventor, thecontents of which are herein incorporated by reference in theirentirety.

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention relates to switching circuits. More specifically,effectively switching on and off a capacitor or capacitor bank within aclosed system. This invention is applicable to various applications suchas arc welding, magnetizing materials, and switching capacitors.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Traditionally electronic switches have been unable to switch high-energyloads effectively resulting in damage to the switch, the capacitor, andthe devices to which power is being provided. Effective resolution ofthis problem has been too costly and, without a switch that couldeffectively switch high-energy capacitors in and out of a circuit, thestate of the art has been unable to provide suitable avenues ofcontrolling the power imbalance issues and other related problems. Thestate of the art today, and for the past several decades, has been touse switch circuits that require a certain amount of current to biastheir base and this current is typically used to induce the linevoltage. Consequently, it was impossible not to cause damage toswitches, capacitors and even motors simply because there was no way toeffectively switch capacitance in and out of high power circuits in sucha way to efficiently resolve imbalance and harmonics issues.

Currently there are no high-energy power line capacitor switchingsystems that match the voltage across a capacitor to the line voltage atthe time the switch contact is made. In addition, there is no practicalway that a capacitor can be discharged rapidly so that it can toswitched on and rapidly charged, or that guarantees that the capacitoris kept in its discharge state in the event of a power loss.

The ever-increasing demand for electrical energy has triggered greaterefforts to attain higher efficiency in every aspect of energy switchingin the electrical power industry. Many providers and regulators havesought to address the ever-increasing demand and rising cost by lookingat power factor correction (reactive power) and more importantly, loadimbalance correction and harmonic distortion remedies. As we haveexperienced there have been many efforts to increase efficiency, reducepower consumption, and mitigate power delivery costs but these effortshave not effectively addressed the growing problem described above.

Thus, there is a need in the art for a novel, high-energy switchingcircuit that reduces energy consumption by high power loads.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a novel switching circuit that can safelytransfer energy from a an electrical power source to a load whileovercoming the above described and other deficiencies of conventionalcircuit protection devices and power switching devices.

The invention comprises a resister along with a high-energy triacswitch, which in combination together, achieve the desired means ofreleasing capacitance when required to correct for imbalance andharmonic distortion.

This invention allows for use in a variety of electrical systems wherehigh-energy capacitance is utilized. Thus the scope of the disclosedinvention should be determined by the appended claims and their legalequivalents, rather than the examples given.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be better understood upon reading the followingDetailed Description in conjunction with the Drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the novel dynamic switch.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention provides a novel capacitor switching system thatcan safely transfer energy from a source to a load while overcoming thedeficiencies of conventional circuit protection devices and switchingdevices.

In FIG. 1 current travels in line 4 and through resistor 2, which limitsthe current that can flow through opto coupler 1 via lead 25. A controlcircuit connected to leads 18 and 19 is isolated from other circuitry bythe operation of opto coupler 1. The opto coupler operates as a loadsensing device that contains diode 14 and a triac 15 that sensesoperating conditions and establish the zero crossing of the wave-form ofthe AC current on line 4. When opto coupler 1 is activated by itscontrol circuit triac 15 in opto coupler 1 conducts a flow of current toline 26. Triac 15 allows some of the current passing through resistor 2to pass onto the gate terminal of triac 5 via line 26. Triac 15 operatesas a load comtroller that provides a signal to diode 14 and to the gateaspect of triac 5. Triac 15 is connected to the gate of triac 5 andtriac 5 is turned on and it and capacitor 12 conduct the AC current thatpasses through resistor 2. Thermistor 28 is a device that sensestemperature changes of triac 5. Thermistor 28 reports the temperature oftriac 5 to a processor (not shown). Processor (not shown) will usereported readings from thermistor 28 to determine opening and closing oftriac 5. A processor (not shown) sends a current through diode 14. Theprocessor analyzes operating conditions of the reactive load and theload controlling device and corrects for load imbalance and harmonicdistortion. The processor receives data from thermistor 28, lead 19, andresistor 10 and provides feedback to the opto coupler 1 and transistor9. Some current is transferred from diode 14 to triac 5. Current passingthrough diode 14 passes to ground via line 18. AC current passingthrough triac 5 to line 20 passes on to and through capacitor 12 toground. As the current of the sine wave on line 4 approaches zero inquadrant II of AC wave-form, relay 17 operates and its contact 16 closeswhen the AC voltages on line 4 and capacitor 12 are near equal. Relay 17operates as a low voltage load controller that regulates AC voltagesthat pass to capacitor 12, capacitor 6, and triac 5. Varistors behavelike two back-to-back zener diodes to suppress surges in bothdirections. Varistor 3 provides circuit protection by absorbing voltagespikes and the resulting current from the collapsing magnetic field ofthe inductance of coil 7 when relay 17 is de-energized and its contact16 is opened. The inductance of coil 7 operates as a control signal.Varistor 3 allows the line current caused by the voltage spikes to passto capacitor 12 via line 21. Current passing through varistor 3 passesthrough capacitor 12 to ground. Varistor 3 is connected in parallel totriac 5 and opto coupler 1. The AC current of line 4 passes to capacitor6. Any AC current passing through capacitor 6 passes through capacitor12 via line 22. Contact 16 of relay 17 passes the current on line 4 toand through capacitor 12 when contact 16 is closed. A power source 8provides a current to coil 7 of relay 17. Relay 17 operates a disconnectmeans by either the opening or closing of contact 16. When relay 17 isoperated and its contact is closed capacitor 6 is bypassed. When contact16 of relay 17 opens the current flowing through contact 16 is divertedthrough capacitor 6. When a control signal is applied via resistor 10 tothe gate terminal of transistor 9 current flows through transistor 9 andcoil 7 of relay 17. Relay 17 is connected in parallel to triac 5 andopto coupler 1.

While what has been described herein is a preferred embodiment of theinvention those skilled in the art will understand that numerous changesmay be made without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention.

1. A processor controlled load controlling device for rapidly measuringand correcting for load imbalance and harmonic distortion caused by areactive load connected to an AC power source, discharging a capacitorconnected to the power source and then rapidly connecting it to thepower source when the voltage across the reactive element equals thevoltage of the power source to which it is connected, the loadcontrolling device comprising: a) a load sensing device that sensesvoltage and current of reactive loads connected to the power source; b)a low voltage source controller means with communication to theprocessor of the load controlling device that provides feedback to thecontroller means that includes at least a signal indicative of thecurrent passing through the reactive element; c) a disconnect devicemeans responsive to a control signal from the low voltage sourcecontroller means for electrically connecting or disconnecting elementsof the load controlling device from the reactive load circuits; d) aprimary controller means communicating with the load sensing device, totransfer an indication of the voltage across and the current passingthrough a the reactive load; e) a device for forwarding operatinginformation from about the primary controller means to the processor;and wherein the processor analyzes operating conditions of the reactiveload and the primary controller means and modifies the operation of theload controlling device to correct, for load imbalance and harmonicdistortion.
 3. The processor controlled load controlling device of claim1, wherein the load sensing device comprises an opto coupler thattransfers a signal between the processor and the opto coupler to be usedto change the operation of the load controlling device to address loadbalance and harmonic distortion.
 6. A processor controlled loadcontrolling device of claim 3, wherein the processor locates a pointafter π/2 and before 3π/4 of every cycle of said load line AC voltagesignal at which to make the calculated corrections.
 7. The processorcontrolled load controlling device of claim 6, wherein said calculationsmade by the processor determines at what point the line current phaseequals line voltage phase.
 8. The processor controlled load of claim 7,further comprising a phase correction capacitor, wherein said processorsends a signal to the low voltage source controller means to activatethe disconnect device means to discharge the phase correction capacitoras part of the phase correction.
 9. The processor controlled loadcontrolling device of claim 8, further comprising a thermistor andwherein the temperature of the load controller means is sensed by athermistor which sends a signal to the processor to be used for thephase correction.
 12. The processor controlled load controlling deviceof claim 1, wherein the low voltage source controller means is atransistor that is used to energize and de-energize the disconnectdevice means.
 13. The processor controlled load controlling device ofclaim 12, wherein said disconnect device means is a relay.